Conveyer.



G. M. DEPEW.

OONVBYER.

APPLIOATIOH FILED nov. 22, 191s.

1,094,780. Patented Apr. 28, 1914u Fig L Fg. n

Figs. 8 v

12 7 /mm n Ilklgvgemwg q Zlf- MWL. WW 0.1M. In] M 3 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

GEORGE IVI. DEPEW, OF CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK.

coNvEYEn.

To ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. DEPEW, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Canandaigua, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveyers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to conveyers, or similar devices, in which fingers or teeth are arranged in rows upon one or more rods or elongated supports, particularly where such ngers are required to be resilient.

The object of the invention is to produce a construction, for use in such connections, whereby the form and the mode of attachment of the fingers are simplified and improved, and whereby the fingers are attached with perfect security when in use, while at the same time the structure is easily assembled in the process of manufac ture, or disassembled when repairs are necessary.

To the foregoing ends I employ a construction in which the adjacent ngers are formed to cooperate with each other in such a manner that one finger serves as the means for locking the next finger in position upon the supporting-inember or rod. This is preferably accomplished by providing each finger with one or more spring-coils, the latter serving specifically as the means for locking the next adjacent fingerl in position, and also to provide the desirable resiliency in the fingers.

In the accompanying drawings F igure l is a side-elevation of a part of a conveyer embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a plan-view, on a larger scale, of a part of the conveyer, showing particularly one of the transverse rods, with a number of lingers thereon; and Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 in Fig. 2.

The invention is applicable to conveyers of various forms, or to devices of other kinds, wherever such conveyers or devices comprise one or more rods upon which lingers are mounted in series. lIhe invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, however, as embodied in a conveyer of the type commonly employed in hay-loaders and similar machines, wherein a series of transverse rods are mounted upon conveyerchains, each rod being provided, in turn, with a series of out-wardlyprojecting spring-fingers. In the illustrated embodiment of the in- Speccation of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, 28, 1914,. Application mea November 22, 191s. `v

sei-iai No. 802,503.

vention the ngers each comprise a straight portion 5 projecting, at a right-angle, from a rod 6 upon which the fingersV are vplaced equidistant from each other. Each finger is formed of a single length of spring-wire, and it has an intermediate coiled portion 7 and a straight portion 8 which extends along the bar 6 and terminates in an inf wardly-bent extremity 9. This extremity is seated loosely in a perforation in the rod. In the drawings the rods 6 are illustrated as hollow, being, in fact, preferably made of ordinary iron pipe, but they may obviously be made solid with equal facility.

The form of the fingers as just described is advantageous in itself, inV that'the'coiled portion 7 and the straight portions 8 both contribute to the desired resiliency in the fingers, but this form is particularly useful in that it permits each linger to serve as means for locking the .next finger in place on the rod 6.V As shown particularly in Fig. :2, the fingers are so spaced that the coiled portion 7 of each linger' incloses the ext-remity of the straight portion 8 of the next linger in series, thus locking the extremity 9 in engagement with the corresponding perforation in the rod. In assembling the structure the finger at one extremity of the series is first slipped over the rod and engaged with one of the perforations therein,

the next finger is then put in place, thus locking the iirst finger, and so on until the last finger in the series is in place. rihis last finger must obviously be locked in place by special means, and as shown in Fig. 2 it is provided with a straight portion 10 shorter than those of the other fingers, this straight portionv being locked byl a slip-ring ll, consisting merely of a short piece of coiled wire. This wire is held in position by its resiliency, and by engagement with one of the chains 9 upon which the transverse rods 6 are mounted. So long as the last linger of the series remains in place none of the fingers can become disconnected from the rod, and thus accidental derangesol ment of the apparatus when in use is eft'eetribute to the elastic and resilient character of the fingers. t

Vhile the locking portions of the fingers are preferably made, as above described, to constitute also spring-coils, the arrangement is not limited to this specific construction, and is not, in general, limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, Ibut may be embodied in Various other forms Within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

l. A structure, comprising an elongated support and a series of fingers projecting therefrom, in Which each finger has an eX- tremity in locking engagement With the support, to retain it in place thereon, .and each finger has a portion Which surrounds the support and said extremity of the next finger and retains the latter in such locking engagement With the support.

2. A structure, comprising an elongated support provided with a series of recesses, and a series of fingers projecting therefrom, in Which each linger has a portion entering one of said recesses, to secure the linger in place on the support, and each finger has also a part Which engages the neXt finger to maintain its said portion in engagement with the corresponding recess.

3. A structure, comprising an elongated support provided With a series of recesses, and a series of fingers mounted on and proj ecting from the support, in which each finger consists of a single length of spring- Wire bent to form" an extremity engaging one of said recesses, an intermediate portion coiledabout the support and also engaging and retaining the extremity of the next finger, and an arm projecting from the supf port.

v GEORGE M. DEPEW Witnesses:

JULIA F. PEOR, WALTER H. KNAPP.

Copies of this patent may be. obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

